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Hurricanes and the effects of Global Warming

Hurricanes and the effects of Global Warming. What hurricanes are. Tropical cyclone reaching winds >74mph Tropical cyclones are low pressure storm systems that develop over tropical oceans Hurricanes can span as much as 300 miles and typically live for a week. Hurricane behavior.

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Hurricanes and the effects of Global Warming

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  1. Hurricanes and the effects of Global Warming

  2. What hurricanes are • Tropical cyclone reaching winds >74mph • Tropical cyclones are low pressure storm systems that develop over tropical oceans • Hurricanes can span as much as 300 miles and typically live for a week

  3. Hurricane behavior • Hurricanes have intense winds and heavy rainfall • Tend to follow trade winds but can move in erratic paths • Rotate counter-clockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern hemisphere

  4. Categories and Naming • Categories 1-5. Rated by wind speeds • Category 1 is weakest and 5 is strongest with winds >155mph • Hurricanes named alphabetically starting each year • Names alternate between masculine and feminine names

  5. Damage • Hurricanes inflict massive damage to property and life upon landfall • Can cause billions of $$ in property damage and claim thousands of lives • Winds can tear down houses and property • Rain and ocean swells cause massive flooding • 90% of deaths are from drowning after flooding

  6. How Hurricanes Work • Most hurricanes begin as thunderstorms off the coast of Africa • Storms travel along trade winds over Atlantic ocean • Storms collect energy from warm ocean water on the journey • The ocean can absorb up to 1 kW/m² in heat from the sun

  7. Warm humid air rises up to colder air • The cycle of water vapor rising and condensing into rain drives hurricane movement • Hurricanes work like giant heat engines • Require ocean surface temperatures at least 26.5ºC • Wind shear inhibits hurricane formation

  8. Landfall • Hurricanes die off when they lose their source of warm ocean water • Land cannot sustain a hurricane • Hurricane winds and rain can still extend up to 150 miles inland • Even with lower wind speeds, the moisture still falls and floods land

  9. Effects of global warming • Many models predict the outcome • No model is perfect and many factors make hurricanes difficult to predict • Some theories point to warmer ocean temperatures and reduction of wind shear which should increase hurricane formation and activity

  10. Hurricane Katrina • Hurricane Katrina was one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record • It was the costliest and one of the deadliest • Serves as a reminder of the power of nature • Changing the climate can affect hurricanes • Most models show more hurricane activity with global warming so it could only get worse

  11. Sources • http://www.howstuffworks.com/hurricane.htm • Pictures: • www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/cede_hurricanes/2 • scifiles.larc.nasa.gov/.../hurricanebasics.htm

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